Hermes
Hermes (Ερμής in Ancient Greek), is the god of roads, speed, messengers, commerce, travel, thieves, merchants, athletes, and mail deliverers. His Roman counterpart is Mercury. His symbol is the caduceus. He is the son of Zeus and the Pleiade Maia. He is more commonly as the Messenger of the Olympian gods. History Hermes was born sometime after the first Titan War to Zeus and a nymph named Maia. He matured rapidly and within a few minutes of his birth stole the cattle of Apollo and invented the lyre. He even thought of a clever way to cover up his crime: tying bundles of grass to the cows' feet and leading them backward out of the pasture to make it look like something had been led into the pasture, but not away from it. Despite this, Apollo found out and went to Zeus for justice. When brought before his father, Hermes attempted to charm Zeus into letting him go by telling him he was just an innocent new born baby. Undeceived, but amused by the child's boldness, Zeus instead forced him to compensate Apollo, which Hermes did by presenting him with the lyre, Apollo was instanty fascinated with the musical object. Hermes also traded the shepherd's pipe (another invention of his) to Apollo in exchange for his golden staff and knowledge of the art of prophecy. When he came of age, Hermes was made the messenger of the gods. As the messenger of gods, Hermes would often serve as the intermediary between the gods and the mortal world. He aided Odysseus against Circe and told Calypso to either let him go or face the wrath of Zeus. Hermes also gave a pair of his winged sandals to Perseus when Perseus went to behead Medusa. Trojan War During the Trojan War he sided with the Trojans and delivered Zeus's order to return Hector's body to his father. Also in the Trojan War Hermes and Apollo teamed up to help guide the arrow that killed Achilles and Hermes helped Helen escape with the rest of the citizens of Troy when they were over run by the Greek armies. Second Olympian War Appearance His appearance changes from a middle aged man to a teenager with an athletic figure-slim, fit and muscular with hair changing from sandy to black, and blue colored eyes. He has elfish features, and a sly grin, which his children inherit form him. In mordern times his caduceus can turn into a cell phone. Mercury : Main Article: Mercury Hermes can change into his Roman counterpart as Mercury. As Mercury, he becomes more disciplined, militaristic, and warlike. He has children and perhaps descendants at Camp Jupiter. Personality Unlike many of the other Olympians, Hermes is much more reasonable and helpful than the other major Olympian gods with a greater understanding of mortals. However, he takes his duties as a god seriously and will not breach them, even to save his own children since not even he can defy the fates and to do so would make things worse. He is not prone to the arrogance of some like Zeus or Ares nor the character quirks like Apollo or Aphrodite. Part of this may be due to part of his job being to help mortals rationalize divine events giving him a greater understanding of things beyond himself. All in all, he is by far one of the more reasonable and beneficial gods. He is shown to care a great deal for his children and to be far more accepting of others. Both traits not found as common among the major Olympians. His visits are often beneficial to gods and demigods and often helps them out though often this is at the request of another god or personal motivations. He tends to be one of the more clever gods as he tricked Argus into falling asleep and managed to outsmart Apollo when he was a child. Family and Children Abilities He has the standard powers of a god, aswell as personal abilities such as: Trivia Category:Olympians Category:Immortals Category:Children of Zeus Category:Gods Category:Males Category:Greek God